It is well known to provide a restraint belt system in which a restraint belt has an upper outboard belt end mounted on the vehicle body roof or door pillar and a lower outboard end mounted on the vehicle floor structure generally adjacent the outboard occupant hip. A latch plate is slidable along the belt to divide the belt into a lap belt portion and a shoulder belt portion. The latch plate is selectively engaged with a buckle mounted inboard the seat to dispose the lap belt portion in restraining position across the occupant lap and the shoulder belt portion diagonally across the upper torso. A retractor is associated with one of the belt ends to wind the belt to a stowed condition when the occupant alights from the vehicle.
The aforedescribed seat belt system is conventionally used in conjunction with the front seat of a two-door vehicle. The back of the front seat is forwardly tilted to facilitate entry of a rear seat occupant to and from the rear seat compartment. It has been recognized that the belt extends across the access opening to the rear seat. Accordingly, prior art patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,657, issued May 14, 1974 to David D. Campbell, have proposed that the shoulder belt be routed through a guide loop on the seatback and that the guide loop be mounted on a telescopically extensible member which pivots forward with the seat-back and is cammed vertically upwardly to raise the shoulder belt to a position which enlarges the access passageway to the rear seat.
The present invention improves access to the rear seat by the provision of a belt carriage which is slidably movable on a longitudinally extending track mounted on the roof rail to permit forward and upward movement of the shoulder belt to a stowed position along the roof rail.
According to the present invention, the restraint belt has an upper end mounted on the vehicle body generally above and rearward the door opening and another end mounted generally adjacent the occupant hip. A retractor provided at one of the belt ends winds the shoulder belt to a stored position extending partially across the door opening and partially obstructing access to the rear seat passenger compartment through the door located laterally adjacent the vehicle seat with which the restraint belt is associated. A track extends along the roof rail forwardly from the upper end of the restraint belt. A carriage is slidably movable along the track and has a belt loop slidably encircling the restraint belt. A hand grip is provided on the carriage by which the carriage may be manually gripped for forward sliding movement along the track to unwind the restraint belt from the retractor and stow a belt portion along the roof rail to substantially lessen the belt obstruction of access to the rear seat passenger compartment. A selectively releasable latch is provided to latch the carriage at the forward position and is released to permit rearward movement of the carriage by the retractor to reestablish the restraint belt in the normal stored position in readiness for donning by the front seat occupant.
Accordingly, the object, feature and advantage of the invention is seen to reside in the provision of a track-and-carriage assembly on the roof rail adapted to dispose the shoulder belt in parallel stowed relation with the roof rail to lessen the degree of belt obstruction of access to the rear seat compartment.
A still further object, feature and advantage of the invention resides in the provision of a belt carriage forwardly movable along a roof rail track for storing a shoulder belt along a roof rail to facilitate access to a rear seat and a carriage-latch adapted to retain the carriage forwardly and selectively releasable to permit rearward carriage movement by the retractor to reestablish the shoulder belt in the normal position in readiness for donning by the front seat occupant.